25 June 2021, Friday, 17:34 286

Zelenskyy Discussed Wagner PMC Mercenaries With Lukashenko After Their Arrest In Belarus – Presidential Office

Редактор: Daria Zubkova

Following President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s statement that he discussed the Wagner private military company’s mercenaries with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, the Office of the President of Ukraine has explained that the discussion took place after the mercenaries were arrested in Minsk, as the presidential press service previously reported officially.

Mykhailo Podoliak, an advisor to the Office of the President of Ukraine’s head Andrii Yermak, announced this to the Ukrainian News Agency.

"Zelenskyy held a telephone conversation with Lukashenko about the Wagnerites on August 5, 2020," he said.

According to him, information about this telephone conversation was published on the website of the Ukrainian president on the same day.

“It was then that President Zelenskyy warned Lukashenko that Ukraine would not accept any other option than extradition of the Wagnerites to Ukraine. The Wagnerites had already been under arrest in Belarus for more than a week at that time,” Podoliak said.

According to him, Zelenskyy had no contact with Lukashenko after that, since he promised to transfer the detainees to Ukraine but acted differently.

Podoliak described the criticism of Zelenskyy’s statements about the conversation with Lukashenko by Zelenskyy’s opponents, who perceived the statements as a "confession" that there were warnings about the Wagner private military company’s mercenaries before the special operation to detain them, as "a propaganda narrative" and "banal conspiracy theories."

"There are some people who simply refuse to accept facts. There are entire parties built on propaganda lies. What exactly is unclear to the authorities’ opponents in the president’s words? They simply do not want to understand. It is vitally important for them to continue promoting this conspiracy crime story about the Wagnerites, which consists of lies and propaganda and is built on wishful thinking by part of the audience," he said.

According to him, this is done in order "to avoid talking about the partnership of pseudo-patriots with Viktor Medvedchuk, about their own political inconsistency, and other unpleasant things."

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Zelenskyy has said that the special operation to detain the Wagner private military company’s mercenaries was not Ukraine's idea but the idea of other countries and that Ukraine was dragged into it as much as possible.